Thursday, July 31, 2008

Or so it seems, on one of the most important elements I think RPGs need to nail right out of the box. I'm speaking of efficiency:

4E has IMHO the lowest barrier to a good night of gaming. As a father of two, and a full time researcher, I have barely enough time to game as it is. Our game nights are packed now that we playing 4E. I probably won’t forget the 2nd game night using the new rules: 3 hours = 3 combat encounters and 3 ‘non-combat’ encounters = 6 things done. All the players shined both in combat and out, and everyone had an awesome time.

This is why WotC really needs to get their digital tabletop right. Combined with a game that makes it easy to pack a lot of fun in a limited amount of time, making it easy to get together with friends is a killer synergy. If they can then help cultivate better DMs and better players through the communities that develop around DDI, they can possibly inject a lot of life into the hobby.

7 comments:

I think it's a good indication of exactly how decadent gaming has become that being able to run 6 encounters in the course of three hours is considered noteworthy. I won't bore anyone with "back in my day" stories, but let's just say that, to borrow a phrase, pre-3e D&D pwns them all when it comes to "efficiency."

Total agreement. My kids like it, I am just not happy about the lack of options compared to it's bastard cousin: 3E.

I have a (resigned) feeling that it will grow on me. After the huge amount of basic gameplay changes with the first big update (don't these guys playtest the stuff?) they corrected a few issues, but then again, fun is a different animal to everybody.

I just wish it was backward compatible, that has set me against it from day one.

This as someone who ran screaming from 2E the second the new edition was released.

Have you tried it yet James? I admit I was skeptical, but as I said, it is growing on me.

Add another voice to the concord gentlemen. I've lost count of the number of encounters (both combat and non) that we had in our last 3 hour session of Mutant Future, but I can assure you they where more than 6.

I have not had the chance to try 4e yet. A member of my gaming group has offered to run us through an adventure, but he has yet to do so. If and when this occurs, you can be sure I'll give a full accounting of my experiences.

(My guess is that I'll probably have a fun time playing 4e, but that, to borrow Jeff Rients' marvelous phrase, "I think I'd rather be playing Dungeons & Dragons.")

And to echo the other comments, at least it's a step up from 3e, but it doesn't really hold a candle to the old school systems. Pendragon might drive me nuts sometimes with its idiosyncracies, but I love its simple resolution systems. Tonight's session saw combat, role-playing, a siege, AND a major battle. I budgeted 5 hours and we got it done in less than 4. Via online chat, no less.